* I thought this was a rather odd story when I first saw a Bruce Rauner opposition research report a few weeks ago…

Last week, the Daily Herald ran an interesting piece about how Mr. Rauner improperly had claimed homestead exemptions on three separate residences. The law says you’re supposed to get the tax break on only one residence, but Mr. Rauner for several years declared it on a Winnetka home, and on a Chicago penthouse and a condo located in the same building. […]

“Englander said Thursday that the Winnetka address is currently Rauner’s primary residence,” the Herald reported.

However, since October 2008, Mr. Rauner’s legal voting residence has been at 340 E. Randolph St. in Chicago. And, according to Chicago Board of Elections spokesman Jim Allen, the law is clear: ‘You should register at your primary residence.” The courts have upheld that standard many times, he said.

So, where does Mr. Rauner live? In Chicago, where he votes, or in Winnetka, where he gets the tax break and where his wife, Diana Rauner, is registered to vote?

Mr. Rauner’s new spokesman, Mike Schrimpf, tries to blow off the whole matter as just a little unmeaningful detail.

“The Rauners have long owned a home in Winnetka, raised their children there and continue to cherish their ties to the community,” he said in a statement, “but Bruce also has worked in Chicago for years, spent a great deal of time there and been deeply involved in improving the city. Consequently, Bruce registered to vote there after purchasing an apartment in the city while Diana continues to vote in Winnetka.”

I’ve heard of people doing almost anything to get their kid into Walter Payton College Prep High School. Whatever might work, I’m sure someone would try. […]

According to multiple sources at Chicago Public Schools, Mr. Rauner in 2008 picked up the phone and called Mr. Duncan on behalf of his daughter, who was trying to get into Payton. […]

As it turns out, in establishing residence in the city, Mr. Rauner also established the right of his daughter to attend a Chicago public school. But not just any school. She could have gone to New Trier, since mom still lived in Winnetka and New Trier is pretty highly rated itself. But Payton is rated better. […]

Moreover, another source with direct knowledge confirms that Ms. Rauner was not admitted to Payton via the normal best-score route, but by way of a supplemental, alternate procedure.

So, Rauner buys a condo in the city and establishes residency by registering to vote, falsely claims homestead exemptions on that condo and other homes, claims to the media that he bought the condo because he was “deeply involved in improving the city,” but conveniently fails to mention that he used the residence to help clout his kid into Payton.

* Look, I have no real problems with a parent doing all he legally can to get his kid into the best public school in the Chicago area. You gotta do what you gotta do.

What bugs me is that Rauner always talks about himself like he’s some outsider, just one of us, a regular guy in an inexpensive suit who really, truly believes that Illinois must be reformed. From Rauner’s Twitter feed…

OW, I think you’ll be waiting an awful long time. Instead, what you’re likely to hear is, “how dare you attack my family and my daughter. Leave them out of this!”

I keep writing off these various problems as rookie mistakes. But they’re piling up fast and, worse, they’re going right at the heart of the brand he’s attempting to establish. Just how do you end “business as usual” when you’re an archetype of “business as usual?”

In 10 months after this guy has gotten his 4th place finish and spent his great great grandchildrens college money before we forget him we will stop and ask ourselves whether this guy was andy mckenna, ron gidwitz, or enter rich chicago area republican businessperson name here?

we should add up all the dollars self funding republicans have spent on statewide and congressional races the last 14 years that didn’t even get the silver medal in their own primary.

The great savior of the chicago public school system uses clout to get his daughter in? Looks like a good excuse for not living in Springfield if one gets electeud governor. Oh, wait, that sounds familiar.

Reminds me of a certain State Senator whom I will not name always pushing for more open meeting act requirements, yet at the same time pushing for more secret caucus meetings on her bills. I once pointed out the irony to her but it failed to register.

“When you open my Daughter’s application, you will see the new Chicago address in there, and all the paperwork and stuff …(pause) and if you find Arne Duncan’s card in there too, its an accident. I was calling him on his private line and I seem to have misplaced his handwritten note too…”

@TheRaunerChicken - After this picture was taken My Hedge Fund Manager allegedly clouted his daughter into Payton Prep. He is just a normal guy, the Chicago Condo was for me. #TakingTheFallIsPartOfTheJob

We …do not like when what is presented to us as one thing, is actually another …like

Resumes. Records. Positions.

Oswego Willy … We … we can’t stand the hypocricy of candidates looking at something and dumping on how bad it is, and then finding out they are not only a part of it, but doing it at the peril of others.

Oswego Willy …We … can’t stand the idea that candidates think voters are stupid and if they shine themselves up and pretend to be “just like us” we will let realities “go”, and truths fade.

I don’t like a 25 year old, money, no money, telling me he can run the 5th largest state in the Union based on Interships and Dad’s HR Department, and I sure as heck don’t like an “outsider”, reeking of inside monies and clout, running on ideas counter the Illinois Constitution, all the while “gaming” the system, even at the cost of another child.

@TheRaunerChicken - What Oswego Willy seems to NOT understand is that its ok to use money to advance yourself, even at the cost of someone else … if you can “game” the system. #BlameTheSystemNotTheChicken

My daughter is graduating from college next week after receiving a phenomenal education at Payton, and she did test in. She hated it when kids got in the other route because her contention was that someone’s entire life can take an abrupt turn when they get the opportunities for college offered by Walter Payton.

I, too, was initially intrigued by the first articles on Rauner (by Rauner probably). Then I had the opportunity to meet and talk with him one evening at a political/social function. He was an “okay guy” in my opinion but he was definitely a “self-promoter” who couldn’t work the crowd quickly enough to get his name out there. It was actually funny to watch him. He reminded me of Gidwitz when I first met him and got a chance to talk with him at length when he was running for governor. These guys are “okay guys” but they are driven more by self-advancement than by idealism or wanting to give back to the community/state.

I don’t blame Rauner or others for wanting the best education they can get for their kids. I didn’t see Obama or Rahm rushing to send their kids to a public school. And. it isn’t because of security concerns although that might be a great excuse to use. These guys “don’t identify” with the rest of us nor should they because they are as similar to the rest of us as a swan is to a starling.

Besides the political reformer hypocrisy… I’m kind of intrigued by the education reformer hypocrisy.

Walter Payton is NOT a for-profit charter school, it’s a non-profit public school. So why was Bruce Rauner, hater of the CTU and CPS public schools, trying to clout his daughter into a CPS school that wasn’t a charter school?

And if he thinks a public magnet school like Walter Payton is great enough to lie about his primary residence over, why isn’t he trying to get the CPS to make more Walter Paytons rather than wasting his time promoting charter schools that aren’t good enough for his daughter?

When the Obamas lived in Chicago they got the tuition at the Lab Schools discounted because at least one of them and sometimes both worked at UC. I can’t imagine not taking advantage of that.

As far as the current Mayor’s kids going there, none of my CPS teacher-friends want to be his kids’ teacher. I know this because I asked them while they were complaining about what it looked like, sending them to the Lab Schools.

And there is the security factor–the Lab Schools (and the Friends Schools in DC) already have security measures in place. Imagine the uproar if Ravenswood had to implement security measures because the younger Emanuel children went there. I think the oldest one is old enough to wreak havoc at Lake View, but I could be wrong.

But Rauner is just cheap if he sends his daughter to Payton–somehow I think she’d be better off at a Lab School too.

Okay, folks, this one is for free: When you get caught clouting your kid into a school, don’t deny it.

Embrace it. Say you are so sorry, but you were blinded by your overwhelming love for your child, who was desperate to attend this school. You know that you shouldn’t have done it, but any loving parent will understand why your devotion to your child overwhelmed your scruples.

Then write a check equivalent for four years’ tuition at Lab or Parker and give it to CPS. And set up a scholarship fund for Payton grads that will pay tuition at the U of I for a kid who can’t afford to go otherwise. (Not just for next year, but enough to set up an ongoing scholarship program)

AA, that’s a fair point. I am not making excuses for Arne Duncan, but my sense is that clouted admission decisions were made above his pay grade and people in the former Mayor’s office are more culpable. Principals were also involved.

Again, I’m not making excuses for Duncan. He’s got to answer for himself and these are important questions that need answers.

Guy with money and influence clouts kids into prep haven…details at 11. Seriously? What hasn’t he done to show his forked tongue? But frankly, we watch almost daily as state reps and senators lie and distort often times in public record whilst in the public’s house. I hold no hope for one honest man/woman.

If it shakes out that Bruce Rauner buys a condo at the time his daughter is trying to be clouted into Payton Prep, and after his daughter NEEDED the clout because the scores wouldn’t even get he in the door…

If this is the same Rauner who built the YMCA in Pilsen, then I say he is not cheap. He cares for those in need. The Y couldn’t have been built without his help. But, like many rich guys who run for office, they never brag about their donations to the many foundations that help the poor and the inner city folk; even though they get criticized and pushed to the limits about “uncaring” for the poor.

So we’re supposed to pity poor little rich boy Bruce Rauner now? The fact that he’s a billionaire who can throw million-dollar donations around like nickels means he doesn’t need to play by the same rules as the rest of us and wait in line the regular folk?

You do realize that he probably got a pretty hefty deduction on his taxes at the same time he shared his so unfortunately unappreciated generosity on the ungrateful rabble of Chicago, right? Oh but I’m sure there was nothing in the Y donation for him and he didn’t deduct it on his taxes at all, I bet. Also I bet he got no improved connections to Chicago pols for a possible future run for governor. And I bet he got no positive publicity in the media for those political ambitions or his business lobbying government for access to government pension money.

I do find it curious though if Rauner was so humble and disinterested in credit for his donation then why is it that he put his name on the Y in the first place? Why did he consent to interviews with the media about it? And why did he permit his “good friend” Rahm Emanuel to sing praises of his generosity on the floor of Congress and get his ode to Bruce entered into the Congressional Record?